A few years ago I was teaching scything courses in the North Pennines AONB as part of their wildflower meadow project. Last week I was invited back to the north-east to teach a bespoke group course for Lizzie who was one of the students during that project. She is still regularly using her Austrian scythe and decided it was time to get the rest of her family and some local friends trained up as well.

We were based near Hexham at Peter and Fransje’s field with wonderful views and lush, thick grass which they make into hay for a flock of about 40 sheep. Peter was also already an experienced mower and, like Lizzie, was keen to have Fransje trained properly as well as get some tips to improve his own mowing.

We had a terrific day of learning and mowing, cutting a huge area of grass just ahead of the weather breaking. Though not ideal, the rain won’t spoil the grass while it’s in the windrows and I’m sure a good bit of Northumbrian wind will soon dry it nicely for hay.